Support MCH Initiatives

August 2014

Dear Alumni and Friends:

Hello from Chapel Hill! On behalf of our faculty, students and Alumni Committee, I want to thank you for your contributions during the past year. I am honored to serve as the Interim Chair for MCH as we transition from the strong leadership of Dr. Peterson and conduct our nationwide search for a new Chair. At this important historical juncture for the Department, I want to ask for your support for the Department of Maternal and Child Health and the Gillings School of Global Public Health in the coming year. We continue to make important contributions to the field of MCH globally and locally and, with your help, our impact will be even greater in the upcoming year.

Dr. Halpern

Just a few highlights so far for 2014:

• We will welcome 33 incoming masters’ students and 5 incoming doctoral students for the 2014-15 academic year. This cohort includes five physicians, three nurses and six international students as well as two Rotary fellows (Australia and Congo), one Royster fellow, one Graduate School Merit awardee and two Gillings Merit awardees.
• We applauded excellence in teaching with Lew Margolis’ receipt of two teaching awards – the Edward G. McGavran Award for Excellence in Teaching, as selected by the SPH community for career-long excellence in teaching, and the School Teaching Innovation Award in MCH as selected by students.
• We helped launch the Gillings Global Implementation Laboratory – a three-credit interdisciplinary, field-based course that pairs teams of graduate students with local and global public health practitioners to improve the delivery of public health programs.
• We developed a Monthly Student Conversation to provide students with an opportunity to share their work and research experiences.
• We went live with an MCH alumni chapter page offering a forum to connect students and alumni.
• We continued to support an important and growing body of work on health disparities.
• We received, in collaboration with faculty and staff from the School’s Department of Health Policy and Management, Public Health Leadership, NC Institute for Public Health and other campus institutes, a $5.5 million award from the Maternal Child Health Bureau (MCHB) to develop and implement a National MCH Workforce Development Center. This Center will provide training and technical assistance to state Title V professionals and partners as they implement health reform.

The Department of Maternal and Child Health may be the smallest department in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, but our alumni and friends have the biggest hearts! Your gift to our Annual Fund will help us with three development priorities:
• Financial aid for students in need – state budget cuts and resulting tuition increases have created even greater financial need for our students;
• Travel support, particularly for students who cannot afford expenses related to practica and attendance at professional meetings; and
• Discretionary funds to respond to strategic opportunities.

Your gift will make a HUGE difference to our Department. Thank you for your support as we move into our 64th year of serving mothers and children in North Carolina, the United States, and around the globe!